Page 41 of Strangers in Love

I looked him dead in the eyes and screamed again, “Help! Help me!”

And then he shoved me through the doorway, and I landed on my butt, the jolt of pain going right up my spine. I cried out, and the door slammed shut, but not before more gunshots echoed through the building.

Screams.

Yelling.

Something was happening.

I needed to be ready.

Ready for what, I wasn’t sure, but ready nonetheless.

Twenty-Nine

Eoin

The hallI’d come down had been empty and dark, the doors all open, but I’d checked each room, anyway. There’d only been three, and they’d been empty.

Just as I was nearing the end of the hall, I heard a gunshot, and then a second one.

Shit.

I quickened the pace. We’d lost the element of surprise, but no way in hell were we going to turn and run. We’d find Aline or die trying.

And then I heard it.

“Help!”

Aline was screaming.

I couldn’t say how I knew it was her since I couldn’t really compare a single scream to what she’d said in the ransom video, but I knew it was her. My pulse sped up, and I walked faster, every one of my senses on alert.

She screamed for help again, and I went around just in time to see a man in a uniform shove a slender figure through a doorway.

Aline.

Anger flared, and I didn’t think, just pulled the trigger twice. One shot hit him in the chest, the other in the forehead, and he dropped back, still raising his gun. My ears were ringing, the downside of not wearing earplugs, but it was worth it to have heard Aline and know she was alive. I’d also heard enough to know that the rest of the team were fighting their own battles. Now, it was all about speed.

I was closest to Aline, which meant it was my job to get to her and get her out. We had radios, but they were only to be used when the woman was found and it was time to head home. Until then, I had no way of knowing if the others were hurt or needed help. After what’d happened to Leo and the other guys in my unit, I hated the thought of leaving them, but Cain had made it clear what our priority was. I just had to trust them to get out on their own.

All of this flashed through my head in only a few seconds, but it was enough for two men to come from around the corner at the far end of the hall. I threw myself to the ground as they fired. Muscle memory kicked in, and I rolled, bringing my feet underneath me as I went. I came up in a crouch, shooting at the last place I’d seen the men. A bullet hit the wall next to my head as my shot caught one of the men in the shoulder, knocking him back and off-balance, but not down. The other man went to the floor with a bullet to the stomach.

Fuck. Those gut shots sucked.

I pushed the thought aside and fired a second round at the guy still on his feet. Right to the chest, and he fell on top of the other guy.

I made it another three feet when I heard a shot behind me a split second before hot pain burned across my left arm. I spun the opposite way to give myself a moment to see the other man. As my shoulder hit the wall, I fired two quick shots at center mass, not able to get a clear line on his head. A bullet ricocheted off the ceiling and hit the floor a foot from my boots as he went down.

Flattening my back against the wall, I made my way toward the first man I’d killed. Every part of me was tense as I waited for the next man to attack. I kept moving, my eyes scanning from one end of the hallway to the other. I hadn’t thought the way I’d come in had been used, but the guy who’d grazed me proved I’d been wrong. The last thing I wanted was to take a bullet to the back just as I was ready to rescue Aline.

The surrounding gunfire didn’t sound as loud anymore, but I didn’t know if that was because my ears were fucked up after all the shooting or if the others were moving away from my position. I refused to think that it was because any of the other men had been taken out. Since I could hear one of the men I’d shot groaning, I assumed my hearing wasn’t as fucked as I’d thought. I didn’t let myself think about whether or not that was a good thing.

When I reached the cell I wanted, I grabbed the man’s ankle, pulling him away from the door. Keeping my eyes up, I patted down the body and found what I was looking for in his pants pocket.

Keys.

I had a choice to make. I could keep my visual and try to unlock the door by feel, or I could risk having someone come up on me without me seeing while I was looking at what I was doing. Since there were only half a dozen keys on the keyring, I decided that it’d be better to get through them as quickly as possible. I’d still be able to hear someone’s footsteps.

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